Americans React To End Of Jobless Benefits: “I Just Don’t Know What To Do, Except Pray”

"It's going to put my family and me out on the streets," is a perspective shared by many of the 1.3 million Americans about to lose their emergency unemployment claims. The program, started during the recession, was intended to help jobless people after they exhausted state benefits, typically lasting six months. House Republicans resisted continuing the benefits without budget cuts elsewhere to cover the cost. As Bloomberg reports, opponents say the extended benefits discourage the unemployed from accepting jobs and that the program should be curtailed, given the recovery in the nation’s labor market.

“It lacks compassion for the victims of the recession and, economically, it’s shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Lawrence Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, which backs policies that help low-income workers. “The timing is very premature. The evidence is that people who want work can’t find it.”

...

“The economy has now been out of a recession for more than four years,” said Chris Edwards, an economist with the Cato Institute in Washington, which argues for scaling back the role of government. “These unemployment benefits are emergency benefits, but the economy is no longer in an emergency situation. People can find jobs if they are willing to moderate their wage demands and make compromises.”

...

“Not all of us have savings and a lot of us have to take care of family because of what happened in the economy,” said Walker, of Santa Clarita, who said she has applied for at least three jobs a week and shares an apartment with her unemployed son, his wife and two children. “It’s going to put my family and me out on the streets.”

...

There were 3.9 million job openings across the U.S. at the end of October, according to the Labor Department. That same month, 11.3 million people were looking for work but couldn’t find it, a gap advocates say underscores the need to keep benefits flowing.

...

Failure to extend the program will affect 1.9 million people who are forecast to use up their state benefits in the first half of 2014 before they can find work, according to the White House.

...

The effect will be especially pronounced in the most-populous U.S. states. In New York, 102,700 people were expected to lose their benefits on Dec. 28, said Chris White, a spokesman for the state’s labor department. In New Jersey, about 90,300 will do the same, according to estimates from Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee. More than 222,000 Californians will likewise see their benefits disappear.

...

“I understand the government doesn’t want to pay for people who are taking advantage of it,” she said. “But I am not, and many other people are not.”

This has profound implications for the oh-so-important unemployment rate that the Fed is so dependent upon...

JPM's Feroli: One observation that could set an upper bound on thinking about a participation effect is to hypothesize that all 1.3 million EUC claimants exit the labor force after benefits expire in 1Q (again, should Congress allow that to happen). In that case, the unemployment rate would fall by 0.8%-pt, obviously an extreme example. Some of the Fed studies can help to narrow the range of outcomes.

One of the more recent works (Farber and Valletta from the San Francisco Fed) indicates that about a fifth of long-term unemployment is due to extended benefits. With just over 4 million long-term unemployed recently, this would imply that the absence of extended UI benefits could lower the unemployment rate by 0.5%-pt.

This will directly impact the Fed's credibility to manage the economt in a "data-dependent" manner:

JPM's Feroli: Setting aside the normative aspect of whether from a public policy perspective this is a desirable or undesirable outcome, such a fall in the unemployment and participation rates could create some tricky choices for Fed policymakers as they assess the health of the labor market.

Give to your local food pantry, help your neighbors, friends and family... There are plenty of ways to pay the downtrodden attention without having the government spend more than we're (the taxpayers) paying in to this 'insurance policy'.

To the people whose unemployment is running out at 6 months & complaining that its not enough, were you asking to have longer benefits and thus raise your taxes while you were working? If not, then STFU. (Presumably) The taxes paid while working cover 6 months of unemployment, deal with it.

Problem is very few have that ability. People keep reporting 'positives' there is nothing positive. Millions without nothing = mass unrest coming soon.

Do I support forever benefits.......No. I support an entirely new system. And getting from here to there will be mass deaths. Not to mention the shitheads in power wont want the same system we want we'll just end up in a bigger war or something. There is nothing good at all to see here.

Take whatever job you can, pick up a broom, dig a ditch, clean a rest room, do someting, I don't care if it is 5 pay grades below what you use to do. Quit be a sorry lazy piece of shit. Have some pride quit begging.

Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And now we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep.

Friends, don’t slack off in doing your duty. If anyone refuses to obey our clear command written in this letter, don’t let him get by with it. Point out such a person and refuse to subsidize his freeloading. Maybe then he’ll think twice. But don’t treat him as an enemy. Sit him down and talk about the problem as someone who cares.

...bbbuuutttt we SHOULD increase NSA spending 'cuz Judge William oops excuse me the HONORABLE Judge William H Pauley III just ruled the other day that NSA spying is not unconstitutional and said it keeps us safe from bad brown-skinned people !! I actually tried calling his chambers at 212-805-6387 to congratulate him on this ruling !

House Republicans resisted continuing the benefits without budget cuts elsewhere to cover the cost.

Yes, because they just can't find any more electrons with which to create more Uncle Sam Bucks. They've all been hoarded by the banksters, who are warehousing 13 yottawatts of the little buggers for when they get their war on in a few more months.

As Bloomberg reports, opponents say the extended benefits discourage the unemployed from accepting jobs and that the program should be curtailed, given the recovery in the nation’s labor market.

Yes! These people on benefits are so fucking lazy, not hitting the streets day after day filling out hundreds of applications and submitting hundreds of resumes for the 2 jobs sitting out there waiting to be filled. Why I can't walk 33 feet down the street without being inundated by dozens of job offers.

You know what? I'm done. If I have to even write this then it means I need to finish my final preps and get the fuck out of here.

I worked my ass off these past five years and quite literally lost just about everything to do my part to prevent us from reaching this juncture. Forgive me for not working harder at it.

California will go on, but the human garbage that brought my birthright to this sad state of affairs certainly shall not. I'm dedicating the next five years to cleaning this place up, starting with the psychopaths that are responsible for this mess. No one escapes accountability. If you escape my retribution, you'll get it much worse on down the line.

With regard to prayer: indeed, it works, with the essential element of FAITH or BELIEF. Your BELIEF is the 4th axis required to harness the 4th dimensional energy that actually carries your word into action.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. - Isaiah 55:11

??? Start at Genesis. Keep reading. Once you reach NT, start at Matthew, keep reading. If you desire, then once you hit the end, start at the beginning again. Nothing hard about it. Even if you only read one page per day. Reading it in order gives you a bit of perspective, why things change the way they do. I know some people like to jump all over the place, good for them. But there's no harm in good, ol' fashioned start at the beginning and read to the end.

Ah yes, the fallacy of appealing to a higher authority. Scripture is bs because religion is made up. Very simple, really. Anyone who quotes scripture is just telling you how stupid they are. It's like the bad drivers who self-identify by adding huge rear wings on their cars.

This sad situation might explain why a number of old fart buddies of mine have been getting attention from much younger women recently. Now these old boys aren't much to look at but they're decent old men with good trucks and still do some carpentry and plumbing and house painting for some good cash. And I guess these younger women just want a place to live in and a daddy figure to live with again! I'm staying away from that trouble however!

And if you handy DIY types want to earn some good money, interior house painting pays pretty good and the materials are inexpensive. Find somebody witha vaction home they want painted when they're not there and it could well be a couple thousand in your pocket! And good plumbing & heating guys (and gals) are always in demand.

Dharma: What is heavier than earth, higher than heavens, faster than the wind and more numerous than straws?

Yudhishthira: One's mother is heavier than the earth; one's father is higher than the mountains. The mind is faster than wind and our worries are more numerous than straws.

Dharma: Who is the friend of a traveler? Who is the friend of one who is ill and one who is dying?

Yudhishthira: The friend of a traveler is his companion. The physician is the friend of one who is sick and a dying man's friend is charity.

Dharma: What is that which, when renounced, makes one lovable? What is that which is renounced makes happy and wealthy?

Yudhishthira: Pride, if renounced makes one lovable; by renouncing desire one becomes wealthy; and to renounce avarice is to obtain happiness.

Dharma: What enemy is invincible? What constitutes an incurable disease? What sort of man is noble and what sort is ignoble?

Yudhishthira: Anger is the invincible enemy. Covetousness constitutes a disease that is incurable. He is noble who desires the well-being of all creatures, and he is ignoble who is without mercy.

Dharma: Who is truly happy? What is the greatest wonder? What is the path? And what is the news?

Yudhishthira: He who has no debts is truly happy. Day after day countless people die. Yet the living wish to live forever. O Lord, what can be a greater wonder? Argument leads to no certain conclusion, the Srutis are different from one another; there is not even one Rishi whose opinion can be accepted by all; the truth about Dharma and duty is hid in caves of our heart: therefore, that alone is the path along which the great have trod. This world full of ignorance is like a pan. The sun is fire, the days and nights are fuel. The months and the seasons constitute the wooden ladle. Time is the cook that is cooking all creatures in that pan (with such aids); this is the news.

Indeed, which is what I interpret "free will" to mean. And if I was gifted with that (as opposed to evolving from some primitive state) then I can reasonably suppose that if I arrive at a place through the exercise of that will that is in accordance with what the Creator intended, then I am indeed free.

I think this pretty much captures the sentiment:

1 Corinthians 13 New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

That is a pretty solid text to work from. I break shit down pretty simply:

1. The kingdom of god is within you.

2. God is love.

Through that lens, the rest of the NT and many parts of the OT make a ton more sense, and you may subsequently understand just how big the disconnect is between modern religious constructs, and the primary ideas conveyed by the actual texts. One "woah" moment for me was the following:

Humility --> Forgiveness --> Love

It all flows from humility. Existentialists would generally concur. Joe Rogan's epic rant in which he concludes that humanity is analogous to bacteria is one interesting rational outcome.

The saving power of Jesus Christ's sacrifice is not something that can "be perceived through a healthy wit and attitude."

If you murdered someone and were punishable by death, can you perceive your way into righteousness?

So too, every person is born into sin, and the wages of sin is death. You can pay for your own sin with your own life, but it means that you die forever. The alternative is to allow another to pay your death sentence, and that is what Jesus Christ did. By believing in his sacrifice, anyone can become a co-heir with Christ in the future kingdom, which includes everlasting life.

Christ was resurrected because he was sinless, and wrongfully put to death. By the rules of the universe, death could not hold him in the grave. Therefore, he was resurrected, and the same resurrection is available to all people who would believe in his sacrifice and resurrection, and call him Lord.

In this way Christ is the propitiation for sin, and you will not find this truth in any other religion or philosophy on planet Earth.

"Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful." 1 Corinthians 1:27

I reckon the local food bank or whatever you'd call it really took that scripture passage to heart. Whenever someone gets desperate enough to turn up there to beg for help, they hand them a stack of forms to fill out and demand a bunch other documentation to prove the recipient is worthy, deserving of help. I went there once.

I told them, "I don't know that I *am* deserving, but even if I were, I could never prove it to your satisfaction. Bye." Oh, it made no difference to them that I was nearly sixty and in poor health and no longer able-bodied (yet, paradoxically, ineligible for "disability").

You just described my own personal view of hell. I couldn't imagine living a life as that individual. If I were unemployed, I would plant a better garden and preserve my food, work on raising my livestock more sustainably, and network/ trade more with my neighbors. In essence, prepare myself for not having to depend on a job. Unfortunately, when you work full time, it's tough prepping with a limited amount of time. I can't imagine not using the time unemployed to some advantage.

This has to be the dumbest comment I have read in about 4 years on this site. Why hell, there are thousands of single acre vacant lots in Wyo. for $500 with good land, water supply and are also good home sites.

I need to get a group together. I went to http://www.landandfarm.com and typed in Wyoming. I have a great job and still do what prepping I can, living in the equivalent of Osgiliath, with a treasured patriotic and heroic sheriff. But the idea of moving far from Mordor is appealing.

That this stupidity got 48 thumbs up and only 9 thumbs down is astounding. Yeah there is plenty of acreage in Wyoming for $500 available that you can grow crops to sustain yourself without irrigration or a water source.

Don't forget that the bankers are the worst offenders when it comes to begging and leaching off of others. Also, the gov't is the entity that extorts the money for unemployment payments. The unemployed do not extort. They just take advantage of the handouts from Robin Hood. Know your enemy.

No there aren't if you look at the BLS statistics or just go look at what residental and commerical construction looks like right now. There are selective parts of the country where this isn't true but overall this is BS.

While I applaud the maneuver of cutting it so that we can move forward with people waking up to the reality that the world is in, you've shown you're quite uneducated and apparently too lazy to become educated. Jobless benefits =! Welfare

Even a cursory review of government spending will show that only a small percentage of your "half paycheck" is supporting the unemployed/disabled.

In my experience there is a certain percentage of users/takers in any group of humans, so, sure, there are some that claim government benefits falsely, or who are actually bone idle. But from some of the hateful comments on ZH you would think it is near 100%.

Seems to me we barely have an economy left minus the government. Take away direct government employment (military, IRS, etc.), indirect employment (government contracts, privately run prisons), government subsidized businesses (Wal-mart, Big Ag, the FIRE industry, education,etc.), then the so called FSA (welfare, food stamps, disability, and, yes, social security).

Fuck it is...so you'd think someone with half a brain and a little bit of determination would be making their own way, rather than waiting for someone else to "hire" them and sucking on the public tit till they do.

In my experience there is a certain percentage of users/takers in any group of humans, so, sure, there are some that claim government benefits falsely, or who are actually bone idle.

Methinks your experience is dated--either that, or you are just flat out lying. The fact is that it used to be small, but its is getting larger all the time. If you doubt me, go hand out at your local Walmart.

The problem is that we have made it EASY to be on living off government benefits. If we want less dependency, we should make it difficult to be dependent. The more people will magically find talents & abilities they didn't know they had.

Uh, the Republicans have been telegraphing this move all throughout 2013.

Extended unemployment is exactly like disability. Yes, there are people who legitimately need the help. But there is a large percentage of people in those programs who are simply taking advantage of them because they don't want to work. Six months unemployment is enough to get your shit together and find a job. 99 weeks was and is a paid vacation.

To those displaced but willing or wanting to work, quit voting for yhe liberal progressive democraps who are only interrsted in staying in power. Vote for those who seek to get gummint off yhe back of small businesses and taxpayers aand not those who give carte blanche to crony favored corporations, banks, etc

To those displaced but willing or wanting to work, quit voting for yhe liberal progressive democraps who are only interrsted in staying in power. Vote for those who seek to get gummint off yhe back of small businesses and taxpayers aand not those who give carte blanche to crony favored corporations, banks, etc

“Not all of us have savings and a lot of us have to take care of family because of what happened in the economy,” said Walker, of Santa Clarita, who said she has applied for at least three jobs a week"

Was this a joke? you have no savings, no job, and you're applying for 3 jobs PER/WEEK, and not 10 jobs PER/DAY! I don't get it....I just don't get it.

There are jobs in Santa Clarita. Tons of them. Are they paralegal jobs? Probably not. Legal work is really tough to find right now. Anyone making the decision to go to law school right now is insane, and I sure hope they aren't taking out any loans to do it. But there certainly are jobs available that pay $11.25/hour, which is the equivalent of the $450/week she is getting in unemployment comp. The issue is that she wants her old job back. And she has had no incentive to take a job that pays $11.25/hour, when she is going to get the same money for sitting at home and NOT taking that job. Now that she has no other choice, she will take that job at the mall or wherever.

Many businesses don't take "walk-ins" anymore. They prefer the ability to see if someone can 1) write a sentence, 2) read, 3) answer questions correctly, and they don't have to hire as many HR people. It's also much easier to delete an on-line resume and application than to tell someone to their face they don't fit the position. Technology makes life soooo much more social.

From personal experience, sometimes that is the only way. Last year I was pursuing a job I thought I was perfect. I submited on line. I tried walking my paper resume into the office and it was near impossible to get anyone to take it. The front door security guard refused me. Finally someone (a VP type) walking by noticed my discussion and was nice enough to take my resume. I finally started getting good at googling and finding the appropriate emails within a company to bypass the website.

I don't care how she applies for jobs. It's a non-issue. What is an issue is the realization process that people with 'career' jobs go through when they are unemployed. It takes time for them to come to terms with the fact that they were once a Paralegal (in this example), but are not likely to find work in that field again. It may have been something they loved, or were good at, or just how they identify themselves. They probably also had income expectations because they made $XXk per year for XX years. And now they have no way to replicate that career or income, and have little idea on how to start over. Plus they might have the burdens of a family to support or simply be 'near' retirement age with little skills that transfer to something else. I have a lot of sympath for these people. There's no way you can really prepare yourself for this kind of change.

But at the same time, I also don't believe in supporting them indefinately through the taxes I pay. Eventually these people have to refind self-sufficiency, and we aren't doing them any favors in allowing them to stay on government assistance, surpressing the instinct of human survival.

I was on holiday ~400 kms from home. I thought it would be a good idea to drop some resumes at some mines that were on the way ( approx 250 kms from home ). They simply refused to take my resume and refused to let me talk to anyone at the site. Only way to apply for jobs was on line.

Speaking of which, there are some companies that I could never work for, simply because their job-application website is an abomination. You have to re-type in your whole resume, account for every single day off ( including leaving your last job on Friday and applying for a job on Sunday ), and sometimes you can't get past the first page due to God-only-knows-what-problem-they-have. If you can just email your resume to HR, that'll work.

It's actually 2.89x more unemployed than jobs available, per the article. Which assumes that the jobs available survey data is correct. And that the unemployment figures are correct. I wouldn't count on either of those.

prior to my reorg in 08 I used to possess a myopic Rush Limbaugh attitude about unemployment. After I lost my job and my contacts couldn't help, the resumes weren't happening at my age and i couldn't find a job with my background, i melded together 3 jobs--2 part time and 1 full. I wasn't on unemployment for very long as you couldn't even breathe on what my state paid. I basically told myself that if the South could survive Reconstruction, then I could survive this crap. My family and I had to separate to survive. We have only now started to recover and I have liquidated my obligations and am starting my own company debt free. American by birth, Southern by the grace of God. Ha, ha, ha.

I have total sympathy for these people. In many cases they're dealing with horrible depression and blaming themselves for a job that's been taken away. They probably don't sleep very well, probably have been or soon to be foreclosed and i'm guessing that many are close in age to where I have been--at or near retirement age and entirely disposable due to an employer's salary and fringe benefit expense. They're probably unable to grasp that their jobs are gone forever. And to overcome that, a great deal of adjustment and intestinal fortitude is needed.

They need a friend to tell them the truth. The jobs are gone. They're not coming back. It's our duty to tell them so they can quit believing in this fantasy world they once lived in.

I don't have a problem extending their benefits. Just take the extra money and start realizing that the old way of doing things is gone. After all, tomorrow is another day.

I can appreciate your viewpoint, but I have bounced back from these types of situations because of a job loss ('86, '97 and 03) with no unemployment, welfare or no help from anybody. When your ass is on the line it gets real FAST. Unemployment only delays the inevitable - getting off your lazy ass and finding a way to support yourself.

I savor the next time that I am unemployed again, for it is when I am truly challenged and happy.

BTW the statement that "all the jobs are gone" is a cop out. It is a big world out there...

People who collect unemployment benefits are not counted in the official unemployment rate! Seriously Zerohedge, you lose credibility when you post this shit. Only people who have been looking for work for the last 4 weeks are counted as unemployed and then those people are taken from a survey estimate. People who collect benefits may or may not be counted amongst those numbers but that depends on if they are looking for work or not. One more time, PEOPLE WHO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEIFTS ARE NOT NECESSARILY COUNTED AS UNEMPLOYED. It is two separate (and worthless) government statistics.

I'm a 54 year old consulting engineer and make between $60,000 and $125,000 per year, depending on how hard I work and whether or not there are work projects out there for me.

My girlfriend is 61 and makes about $18,000 per year, working as a part-time mail clerk.

For me, making $60,000 a year, under ObamaCare, the cheapest, lowest grade policy I can buy, which also happens to impose a $5,000 deductible, costs $482 per month.

For my girlfriend, the same exact policy, same deductible, costs $1 per month. That's right, $1 per month. I'm not making this up.

Don't believe me? Just go to www.coveredca.gov , the ObamaCare website for California and enter the parameters I've mentioned above and see for yourself. By the way, my zip code is 93940. You'll need to enter that.

So OK, clearly ObamaCare is a scheme that involves putting the cost burden of healthcare onto the middle and upper-income wage earners. But there's a lot more to it. Stick with me.

And before I make my next points, I'd like you to think about something:

I live in Monterey County, in Central California. We have a large land mass but just 426,000 residents - about the population of Colorado Springs or the city of Omaha.

But we do have a large Hispanic population, including a large number of illegal aliens, and to serve this group we have Natividad Medical Center, a massive, Federally subsidized county medical complex that takes up an area about one-third the size of the Chrysler Corporation automobile assembly plant in Belvedere, Illinois (see Google Earth View). Natividad has state-of-the-art operating rooms, Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fully equipped, 24 hour emergency room, and much more. If you have no insurance, if you've been in a drive-by shooting or have overdosed on crack cocaine, this is where you go. And it's essentially free, because almost everyone who ends up in the ER is uninsured.

Last year, 2,735 babies were born at Natividad. 32% of these were born to out-of-wedlock teenage mothers, 93% of which were Hispanic. Less than 20% could demonstrate proof of citizenship, and 71% listed their native language as Spanish. Of these 876 births, only 40 were covered under [any kind of] private health insurance. The taxpayers paid for the other 836. And in case you were wondering about the entire population - all 2,735 births - less than 24% involved insured coverage or even partial payment on behalf of the patient to the hospital in exchange for services. Keep this in mind as we move forward.

Now consider this:

If I want to upgrade my policy to a low-deductible premium policy, such as what I had with my last employer, my cost is $886 per month. But my girlfriend can upgrade her policy to the very same level, for just $4 per month. That's right, $4 per month. $48 per year for a zero-deductible, premium healthcare policy - the kind of thing you get when you work at IBM (except of course, IBM employees pay an average of $170 per month out of pocket for their coverage).

I mean, it's bad enough that I will be forced to subsidize the ObamaCare scheme in the first place. But even if I agreed with the basic scheme, which of course I do not, I would never agree to subsidize premium policies. If I have to pay $482 a month for a budget policy, I sure as hell do not want the guy I'm subsidizing to get a better policy, for less that 1% of what I have to fork out each month for a low-end policy.

Why must I pay $482 per month for something the other guy gets for a dollar? And why should the other guy get to buy an $886 policy for $4 a month? Think about this: I have to pay $10,632 a year for the same thing that the other guy can get for $48. $10,000 of net income is 60 days of full time work as an engineer. $48 is something I could could pay for collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles, one day a month.

Are you with me on this? Are you starting to get an idea what ObamaCare is really about?

ObamaCare is not about dealing with inequities in the healthcare system. That's just the cover story. The real story is that it is a massive, political power grab. Do you think anyone who can insure himself with a premium policy for $4 a month will vote for anyone but the political party that provides him such a deal? ObamaCare is about enabling, subsidizing, and expanding the Left's political power base, at taxpayer expense. Why would I vote for anyone but a Democrat if I can have babies for $4 a month? For that matter, why would I go to college or strive for a better job or income if it means I have to pay real money for healthcare coverage? Heck, why study engineering when I can be a schlub for $20K per year and buy a new F-150 with all the money I'm saving?

And think about those $4-a-month babies - think in terms of propagation models. Think of just how many babies will be born to irresponsible, under-educated mothers. Will we get a new crop of brain surgeons and particle physicists from the dollar baby club, or will we need more cops, criminal courts and prisons? One thing you can be certain of: At $4 a month, they'll multiply, and multiply, and multiply. And not one of them will vote Republican.

1. 40% of all workers in Los Angeles County ( Los Angeles County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal aliens working without a green card.

2. 95%of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

3. 75%of people on the most-wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

4. Over 2/3of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

If this makes you upset, wait til you find out how munch of your money goes to make food, fuel, and telecommunications cheap for the poor people to afford. Tell the government to end coporate subsidies, just don't get upset when you're paying 10X current prices and still making the same in wages.

Yup. You keep the masses especially the wealthy and the poor divided by whatever works. Race historically has worked great and still does pretty well. There are a bunch of others too have been used for a long time in the US.

Why should we even care to be honest. They will simply print the money from thin air anyway. We will not be on the hook for its repayment as the debt will nevr be paid back. Those here that want the collapse should be cheering and those that are sympathetic to those losing their benefits will be happy.

Why lose sleep over this all TPTB will simply do as they like and as long as you allow them to divide you over basically nothing, TPTB will be laughing at all of you. You need to realize the money comes from nothing, so why care? I suggest you do your best to make preparations if the government does indeed cut off these benefits and lower the other welfare programs because the real shit will finally hit the fan in the way of higher crimes and robbery.

DO NOT LET TPTB divide you over something you have no control over. They are simply playing you all for fools.

I think truth in lending/advertising, whatever you want to call it should provide a secondary percentage to unemployment that indicates 'shit outa luck'. No opportunities in their field, unemployment benefits ran out, bills due & over due, relatives keep asking "So what are you going to do?", Kids asking for handouts to get sugar products or other consumer products, keep looking at want ads, considering job at fast food even though only miminum wage compared to seven figure income before and no way to pay all bills with that meager income, no way to get away from home environment because no fuel and no money for alcohol (to take the edge off) at bar or store, etc.

Heard about a guy saying he's an "education publisher" and has been aggressively looking for a job in his industry for four years and can't find one and now he won't be able to pay his rent never mind buy food?